Mark Stoops wants more, but is this Kentucky football team capable of more?

As usual, those national media types have it all wrong. Their take: Coaching football at Kentucky is a piece of cake. Low pressure. Low expectations. Win seven or eight games a season, with a 10-victory season every now and again, and basketball-obsessed Big Blue Nation will throw its football coach a parade.

Tell that to Mark Stoops. He’s now the dean of SEC coaches, entering his 12th season in Lexington. He’s also coming off back-to-back 7-6 seasons viewed as disappointments by those involved. A late 2023 dalliance with Texas A&M’s job opening didn’t help on the home front. Natives are restless. So is the head coach.

“We’re not content,” was the 57-year-old Stoops’ message during July’s SEC Football Media Days in Dallas and UK’s own Media Day at Kroger Field in early August. “We want more.”

Is this team capable of achieving more? That’s the question. Are these Cats comparable to the celebrated 2018 and 2021 versions, each of which finished 5-3 in the SEC, 10-3 overall and capped off campaigns with Citrus Bowl wins? Or is this team a rerun of the last two, each having failed to measure up in the ultra-competitive SEC and relegated to lower-tier bowls?

The talent exists to do more. Top to bottom, this appears to be one of Stoops’ better rosters. Solid recruiting and smart use of the transfer portal have produced significant depth at key positions. Nine starters return on defense, including All-America tackle Deone Walker. The offense boasts playmakers, wide receiver/kick returner Barion Brown chief among them.

“The pieces are in place,” said Stoops at the end of spring drills.

Questions exist, of course. It’s Kentucky. There are always plenty of questions. A preseason hand injury to expected starter Chip Trayanum, an Ohio State transfer, has thinned a running back room that must replace 1,000-yard rusher Ray Davis. There are two new starters on the offensive line. Spring injuries stunted defensive line development. Depth at inside linebacker is a concern.

Also, for the fifth straight season, Kentucky has a different offensive coordinator. Eddie Gran in 2020 was followed by Liam Coen in 2021 and Rich Scangarello in 2022. Coen returned in 2023, only to boomerang back to the NFL after one season. Again. Former Boise State OC Bush Hamdan is Stoops’ newest play-caller.

Tempo has been a training camp buzzword. Hamdan is charged with meshing the NFL-style schemes of Coen and Scangarello with a more collegiate approach, while playing at a faster pace. Not Tennessee fast, mind you, but fast enough to provide the offense more snaps.

For the second straight season, Kentucky will have a new starting quarterback. The good news is Stoops has never had more credible candidates at the sport’s most important position. The iffy part is that starter Brock Vandagriff threw all of 21 passes in three seasons at Georgia before transferring to UK.

My guess is Vandagriff, a former five-star prospect, will be just fine. He has the tools. The return of position coach Eric Wolford will improve the offensive line. Hamdan’s offense will click. Defensive coordinator Brad White will get his unit back on track after a subpar 2023.

Here’s my worry: The schedule. Life in the SEC is never easy, and the addition of Texas and Oklahoma only toughens the task. Expansion caused the league to Etch-a-Sketch its schedule. Instead of playing Missouri, Mississippi State and Arkansas, as originally planned, the Cats saw Auburn, Ole Miss and Texas pop up on their to-do list.

Those Ole Miss and Texas games are both on the road. Texas was ranked No. 4 in the AP preseason Top 25. Ole Miss was at No. 6. UK also visits Tennessee, ranked 15th by the AP. And, oh yeah, No. 1-ranked Georgia rolls into Kroger Field on Sept. 14.

It’s entirely possible Kentucky could field a much better team than the past two seasons and end up with the same record. Or worse.

If so, that isn’t likely to go over well with UK’s football fan base. Or its head coach.

This story was originally published August 23, 2024 at 7:00 AM.

John Clay

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-472-4218

John Clay is a sports columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader. A native of Central Kentucky, he covered UK football from 1987 until being named sports columnist in 2000. He has covered 20 Final Fours and 42 consecutive Kentucky Derbys. Support my work with a digital subscription